Shattered
by etoilegyrl
Summary: Squall's life is changed by a shocking revelation, but it is nothing compared to what is about to be revealed. When your life is destroyed, who can you turn to? Postgame. SquallRinoa, SeiferQuistis, possible SquallSeifer.
1. In a Reverie and The Waiting Room Game

Author's notes: First ever fan fiction... Comments needed... Story starts off kinda slow, but trust me it gets much better... All characters, items, and weapons belong to Square...

**Shattered**

The girl sat at the sole computer on that side of the infirmary typing furiously. The only illumination in the room was the faint green glow of the screen. It was unusually quiet in the clinic to Quistis, but it was 3 AM... The only time she had ever been in the infirmary at this time of night was back when Rinoa had fallen into a sort of coma after the battle with Matron at Galbadia Garden.

It seemed like it had happened many years ago, but had only occurred three weeks earlier. "So much has happened in the last couple of months," Quistis said out loud. "The SeeD exams, Timber, fighting Matron, being imprisoned, time compression, Seifer... and now this." She shook her head and scolded herself silently for falling into a reverie and forgetting about what she was doing.

The knock had come about two hours ago. Quistis had finally put away all the medical texts and crawled into bed a little after 1 AM. She could not sleep, so she got up and had just put on a pot of tea when she heard someone at the door. She put on her robe out of habit and opened the door expecting to see one of her students, perhaps one of the "Trepes" again. They always seemed to have some reason for coming to see her and she usually enjoyed their company, but at this time of night?

She opened the door and was shocked by the haggard appearance of the one standing in the hall. The one who had always appeared older than they really were and was always calm regardless of the situation now looked like a terrified child.

Quistis led her friend into the room and to the only piece of furniture that was not covered in books and papers. She then brought over a tray with the tea, poured two cups and handed one over to her friend who was almost like a sibling. The ex-instructor watched the cup shaking in his hands as he sat with his head down. She asked gently, "What's wrong?"

After a long silence he finally looked up at her and the pain in his red-rimmed eyes pierced Quistis's heart like an acid-tipped dagger as Squall replied, "Everything."

* * *

Earlier that evening, Squall had been sitting in his office going over applications when his door flew open and his secretary bounded in. He was about to reprimand her once again for barging in without knocking when he noticed the big grin on Selphie's face. Before he could ask what it was this time, the arrival of a new train at Balamb Station or another useless update on the Garden Festival which was almost a year away, she announced happily," Sir Laguna's here to see you!" At the sight of Squall's stonier expression she quickly added, "...sir."

However, the temporary lapse in formality was not what annoyed Squall. Rather, it was the fact that that bumbling idiot Sir... hell, even he was doing it now... President Laguna Loire of Esthar was even on the same continent as him, much less waiting just outside his office.

He had hated the man before he had ever met him thanks to Ellone using her powers to send him and his friends into the bodies of Laguna and two other Galbadians in several unsuccessful attempts to change the past. Although he was not always accompanied by the same comrades on these unpleasant journeys, he always ended up as the worst of the trio.

His initial (low) opinion of the young soldier hadn't improved during any of the subsequent trips. Even the heroics of Laguna when he helped overthrow the Sorceress Adel failed to impress the young mercenary. He considered it to be nothing more than dumb luck.

Squall could find no other reasons for why he hated this man so much. When he finally met the man in person, all he saw was the same dumbass he had previously "known" in the so-called dream world only a little older and now with a title. Later that day, after Adel had been defeated (again), Laguna had told him that there was something he needed to tell him, but then he disappeared. "And now here he is again..." Squall said in a low voice.

"What did you say, Commander?" Selphie asked.

Squall quickly decided that his secretary did not need to know what he was thinking. She wouldn't understand anyway. "What is the nature of President Loire's visit?" he asked coldly.

"He wouldn't say, sir. All he said was that its very important and also personal."

Squall thought for a moment and said, "Whatever he's got to say can wait until after I finish reviewing these applications from prospective students. Entertain our intrud...umm... guest until I call. I should be done in about twenty minutes."

"Okay!" Selphie replied quickly and left as quickly as she came in. Squall stared at the last page of the last application he had been about to stamp before he was interrupted and sighed. He had a very bad feeling about the person sitting in the lobby and wanted to delay this meeting as long as possible.

* * *

Laguna shifted nervously in his otherwise comfortable chair, not only in anticipation of his meeting with the SeeD commander, but also because of the unwavering gaze and incessant questions of the girl at the desk in front of him.

He had found it slightly endearing and very strange when she first called him Sir Laguna as he was anything but a knight. The chatter about trains and cowboys who couldn't commit and some festival was annoying, but entertaining as well... in a way. He was just thinking how rare and nice it was to be completely adored by a beautiful young woman, when she showed him something that freaked him out. She had created a virtual shrine dedicated to him and had somehow found a copy of every single article that he had ever written or was ever written about him. Even his own archive of stuff he had written wasn't nearly this exhaustive or obsessive. He wondered how long it had taken her to put this together and was a little uneasy about the fact that someone actually thought he was important enough to devote so much time to.

After all of this, he was glad when the moment he had been both eagerly awaiting and dreading at the same time finally arrived. The words "he will see you now" were barely out of Selphie's mouth when Laguna stood up, attempted to smooth out the wrinkles in his clothes, prayed he wouldn't have a leg cramp on his way in, then walked into the commander's office.


	2. Always Searching

The man sitting behind the large desk looked quite imposing and also very annoyed at having his day disturbed. He emitted such a large and powerful presence that Laguna almost bowed. He stood awkwardly until the commander finally rolled for his eyes and motioned for him to sit. "What do you want?"

Laguna thought, "Its now or never..." He then cleared his throat and attempted to discreetly rub the back of his leg before saying, "Commander—Squall—there's no easy way to tell you this so I'll just come out and say it: I'm your father."

Squall just stared at him speechless. Laguna took this to be a fairly positive sign and began to tell of how he had to leave his wife in search of the missing Ellone and after she was rescued they returned to Winhill only to find that Raine had died in childbirth. No one in the town would tell him where the baby was or even if he or she was even alive. They had hated him since he first came to the small village and his "abandonment" of his pregnant wife had only infuriated them more...

"I brought Ellone to the safest, most remote place I could find, the orphanage in Centra and took off in search of my child. About a month or two later, a young couple from Timber left their newly adopted baby boy, an "orphan" of the Sorceress War from Winhill, with a babysitter and went out to celebrate their second anniversary. They never made it to their destination."

He paused for a moment and took a deep breath. "There was a battle that night between one of the more militant Timber resistance groups and Galbadian troops stationed near the pub. The Leonharts arrived at the wrong place at the wrong time and paid for the unintentional mistake with their lives. Their son was to be shipped to relatives, but he never made it. He somehow ended up at an orphanage run by the Kramers which was the same one I had sent Elle to for her own safety. "

"I never knew any of this until a few months ago. All I had been able to find out was that Raine—We—had a son. If only I knew then... I visited that orphanage so many times... I had thought that you could have been one of them, but there were so many orphans from the war and I had no way of knowing... DNA technology wasn't what it is now... It was non-existent at that time...

After several years, I was forced to give up actively searching... for the sake of Esthar and my own sanity and that of those around me or so Kiros told me. He was the one who noticed the resemblance when you first came to Esthar... We just couldn't confirm it until after all the results from all the tests that needed to be run for you and your party to go into space came in. I wanted to tell you as soon as I found out, but with the Lunar Cry and Time Compression and everything I never had the chance..."

Laguna quit speaking when he saw the look on his son's face. He thought of the old saying "if looks could kill" and was glad that old sayings didn't always come true. Squall's expression was that of emotionless murder, of someone who could, would, and had killed without feeling anything while doing it. Laguna thought he saw something else behind that horrifying expression, but couldn't figure out what it was.

All was quiet for a moment. Squall asked quietly, "Is this true?" Laguna nodded.

The younger man sat silently, his face becoming unreadable. Then suddenly he screamed, "Get the fuck out!"

Laguna was stunned. He had known better than to expect a hug and an offer to go out for brunch from his son, but throwing him out?

Squall's face had morphed into a kind of crimson mask. "Are you deaf? I said, leave! Get out of my sight now before I have you removed!"

Laguna obeyed and left as fast as he could. Selphie stared open-mouthed as he passed, an effect caused not only by the speed of his exit, but also the way he looked from behind... She decided to saunter into Squall's office to find out what had happened and was greeted by the slam of the door and a click.

The seemingly stoic SeeD, Commander of Balamb Garden walked to his oversized desk and sat in his executive chair motionless. He considered what he had just heard. After all these years of being alone, he finally had a father. Only that father was the last person in the world he wanted to be related to.

"I used to pray every night for a real family. I promised I would be extra-good and not cry under the arches or get into fights with Seifer and never ever ask for anything again, if only..." Squall said bitterly. "Be careful what I wish for I guess..."

He brooded some more. "Laguna's the president of Esthar for Hyne's sake. The most technologically advanced country in the entire fucking world. He could have found me if he wanted to... if he really cared... That bastard lied. He's not my father."

Squall rubbed his temples trying to get rid of the pounding headache that made its home in his skull ever since Loire left. He berated himself silently for, even if only a moment, letting his defenses down and getting his hopes up. And for what? More pain.

He then put his head down on the smooth glass of the desk and cried.

* * *

"Quistie," Squall said using a nickname he hadn't since the orphanage days, "I need your help."

"What do you want me to do?" she asked.

"The President's medical & genetic profile are on record in the infirmary, correct?", he inquired sounding almost like his old self. She nodded.

He folded his arms and looked lost in thought for a moment. The temperature of the room seemingly dropped to below freezing as he started to speak. "The bastard isn't my father...He can't be... Run all necessary tests using the records in the lab. If you think you need me for something, you won't. Come to me and only me as soon as the results are in. This has to be resolved before tomorrow evening...

I can't think of a better wedding present than to have proof that Loire is a lying bastard and having him forcibly removed from Garden. I would have done it already, but diplomatic protocol prevents me from it." He smiled sarcastically as he stood to leave although he was still shaking a little and his eyes were red.

Quistis grabbed her keys and ID and followed him out the door, then headed off in the opposite direction towards the infirmary.


	3. An Encounter of the Giving Up Kind

Squall went back to his room long enough to grab his favorite gunblade, a beautifully designed weapon known as the lionheart. He left the dormitory and headed for the only place where he could work off some of his frustration, the training center.

Killing a few grats had always been enough to clear his head, but tonight it just wasn't. The more he thought about Laguna's elaborate fairy tale the angrier he became. He leaned against a large rock and tried to think of something more positive. He thought of his fiancée Rinoa who was in Timber with her friends from the resistance group she belonged to. One of them was a very talented seamstress and had been making a unique dress for her to wear. Rin wouldn't be back until sometime this morning because the trip from Timber would take most of the night. Normally he would have sent the Ragnarok to pick her up, but it was being used in a highly classified SeeD mission as much as one involving a very large dragon shaped spaceship could possibly be a secret. Adding to the delay was the fact that the train route that went directly from Timber to Balamb was undergoing maintenance meaning she would have to head all the way north to Dollet then come across via the new underground tunnel that had just been completed and opened earlier in the week.

The wedding was to be tomorrow, no, today, Squall hastily corrected himself. He had proposed to her that night out on the Garden balcony after Ultimecia was defeated and time became normal again. He had never felt so alone as he did when he thought he had lost her forever after the final battle, since he was a child at the orphanage.

Thinking about the orphanage brought to mind unwelcome thoughts of Laguna. "Could it be true?" he wondered aloud. He shook his head as though he was trying to knock the concept out of his head. "No it couldn't—can't be..._isn't_ true."

He starting thinking again about what was going to happen later that day. He had the strangest feeling he wasn't doing the right thing. "I love Rinoa...don't I? What am I saying, of course I do. I'm just feeling nervous because the wedding is today. Oh Hyne, I really am turning into an emo boy." He shook his head once again at the thought of the nickname Zell had given him during a SeeD mission and smiled faintly. "This is just what they call 'pre-wedding jitters' I guess."

Squall was so lost in thought that he hadn't even notice that the boulder he had been leaning against was on the other side of the bridge near the "secret" area. There were no grats in this section, only T-Rexaurs. Even the most seasoned A-class SeeDs had difficulty escaping with their lives and health intact, much less defeating the large dinosaur-like beasts. He didn't even notice the monster behind him until it roared.

Squall was trapped. He cursed out loud for his stupidity. He had forgotten the first and most important rule of the center: Never let your guard down. This place is for training, but the battles are real and one small fuck up will leave you dead. That wasn't the exact wording, but the meaning was there Squall thought as he rolled out of the way just in time to miss the giant fangs coming at him. He grabbed his gunblade and attempted a few slashes and thrusts at it, but none of it fazed the beast.

After a few rounds of trying to inflict some damage while staying alive at the same time, Squall's strength quickly began to fade. He still kept up his pitiful tries at offense and defense, but he knew he couldn't hold out for much longer.

The last time he had encountered one of beasts was during all of the chaos at Garden, when Norg's henchmen ( he refused to recognize them as being a part of Garden) had set all of the beasts from the training center loose . It had taken himself, Quistis, and Zell two hours to defeat it and they had barely survived. How could he, completely unjunctioned and both mentally and physically exhausted, ever do it on his own?

Squall resigned himself to his fate, sheathed the lionheart and watched as the dinosaur's great jaws opened and the sharp teeth came down towards him. Everything went black.


	4. Enter the Savior in a White Trenchcoat

The pain never came. Squall looked up and blinked several times trying to clear his vision, but nothing was there. The great beast was standing in the same place it had been when the spell put both it and Squall to sleep.

Squall watched unable to move and struggling to stay conscious as the one who had cast the spell and then moved Squall out of harm's way began to recite another incantation that Squall vaguely recognized before he passed out again.

He then put out his palm which began to glow red. A barrage of fireballs came out and surrounded the beast then began slamming into it from all sides. The fire engulfed the T-Rexaur's body, but it awoke and began lumbering towards its new prey.

The fire died down into smoke as it came. This level four multi-fire spell should have been overkill for this type of beast, but except for its new freshly grilled smell, the monster appeared unaffected by it. The spell caster quickly recovered from his shock and got into a fighting stance that would have been very familiar to Squall had he been awake.

The monster attacked with its deadly tail. It turned back around expecting, to put it crudely, to find supper ready, but instead only saw what was left of the boulder. The man wasted no time. One final slash of his blade and the monster was dead.

His cocky grin faded into a look of concern when he saw Squall unconscious and completely helpless where he had been moved. Squall had always been so... cold and strong, seemingly invincible. To see him like this, Seifer had to admit, it really got to him.

A month ago he wouldn't have cared about his rival's state of being. He probably would have cheered on the T-Rexaur as it made the final assault on the defenseless SeeD. But he was no longer under the control of the sorceress and the petty stuff he had always fought with Squall over no longer seemed important.

Heh, maybe all this therapy stuff Quistis and the others are making him go to is actually helpful. Perhaps one day he could become something like a normal human again. But still its Squall—Puberty Boy, of all people... Thinking of the nickname no longer gave him the pleasure it once did.

He told himself to snap out of it and dug around in the pockets of his trenchcoat until he found a potion. This should do until he can be treated properly. He heard rumbling in the trees and assuming correctly that it was the dead monster's mate, said "Its not safe here."

Seeing that Squall was in no condition to run or even stand up and walk, he did the only thing he could. Still holding the Hyperion in one hand, he picked up the unconscious SeeD and as gently as he could, put him over one shoulder and took off running through the training center cutting down any and everything that dared to get in his way.

He brought Squall to his room which Squall had fortunately left unlocked after getting his gunblade out earlier. If it would have been locked, Seifer would have had to bring him to his own room and he didn't think the Commander would take too kindly to waking up in his worst enemy's bed. But still, Seifer felt like an intruder as he carried Squall into the sparsely decorated room, pulled the covers back and laid him gently on the bed.

He found a clean rag in the bathroom and wet it with warm water then wiped the grime and blood off the unconscious man's face, neck, and arms. The thin tank top Squall had been wearing was shredded and stained to a point of being completely ruined so Seifer quickly removed it and threw it away. The rest Squall would have to attend to himself. He found a first aid kit in a drawer on the table next to the bed. He opened it and took out the necessary equipment and medicine. He then began to chant the incantation for restoring health lost while simultaneously cleaning and dressing the multitude of minor wounds all over the other man's body. None of them were deep enough to be life-threatening or leave visible scars though.

At the thought of scars, Seifer involuntarily glanced at the angry red scar across Squall's otherwise perfect face and felt a small twinge of guilt at being the one who caused it.The feeling was so foreign, Seifer suddenly felt apprehensive and quickly finished what he was doing. He closed the kit and put it away then picked up his gunblade and started to leave, but for some unknown reason, that even several hours later he could not figure out, he turned around.

At that exact moment, Squall opened his eyes and pulled his blanket up closer to his chin looking more and more like a child every second. A wave of conflicting and foreign thoughts and feelings passed through Seifer as he felt the other man's gaze upon him. Squall was confused, the memory of the events in the training center had not yet come back to him and wouldn't come together clearly until long after the other had left.

"Seifer?" he asked, completely bewildered by not only the man's presence, but by his expression or more accurately the hate and evil missing from it. He never got an answer. Seifer exited without speaking and pulled the door closed behind him.


	5. A Simple Mistake

Author's note: I don't own any of this... It all belongs to Square. Things (plot-wise) should pick up after this chapter. I've been having problems with getting from here to the "big life-shattering secret". Seifer refuses to be the bad guy and Rinoa is just being difficult... but anyways, feedback is most definitely needed... Expect more chapters (much better than this one) sometime soon, like within the next day or two.

The letters on the screen were beginning to blur together. Quistis stopped just long enough to rub her tired eyes. She looked over at the thick text she had been referring to, seemingly all night. Garden's technology was capable of doing almost anything, but it was both a blessing and a curse. While any kind of testing and searching could be done, the parameters for them had to be set manually. It was a time consuming task, but she was almost finished.

She had set the machines to search using the portions of Laguna's genetic profile that would identify his offspring. The computer's margin of error had to be tweaked slightly, because a perfect match cannot actually exist. Quistis yawned. She had been awake since 4 AM the previous morning, it had been more than 24 hours since then. The only thing left to do was to set the program to compare Squall's profile to that of his supposed "father". The key combination was Ctrl + S according to the book. She hit the buttons and thought that in less than a minute, this would be all over and she could finally get some sleep.

Quistis looked at the screen expecting to see Squall and Laguna's profiles side by side with a little progress bar moving towards completion. Instead she was horrified to see the face of Zwolle, Albert E. who was the first listed in Garden's database. The progress bar read 1/600 and a percentage complete that was far to small to even be displayed. In her tiredness, she hit Ctrl + A, the command for searching all records in the active database, meaning that everyone who had been treated at Garden in the past three years would be searched. It would take about five hours to complete, but the search could not be stopped without risking damage to the program and the equipment that housed it.

She stepped over to another terminal and brought up her Garden email. She quickly typed and sent several messages, the first of which was to Dr. Kadowaki, the doctor in charge of the infirmary, briefing her on the situation without going into too much detail. After sending another email to Squall, informing him of the delay, she realized that since she couldn't leave the lab until the testing was done she wrote one more short note to Seifer canceling their breakfast date later that morning.

She logged off the computer and opened the linen closet. She rolled out a cot kept as a kind of crash pad for overworked staff and unfolded it. She grabbed all of the necessary bedding and closed the door, then quickly made the bed. She took off her shoes and not needing to change since she was still wearing the faded tank top and pajama pants she had put on to go to bed earlier that night, crawled into bed and fell into a deep sleep.

The little white bar on the screen read: Progress #8 of 600, 62.5 complete. Total progress: .1 complete.


	6. Secrets Revealed

Rinoa almost leaped over the Garden gates, she was so excited to be back. One of the junior SeeDs took her luggage out of the trunk of the car and carried it to her dorm for her. She stood in the lobby taking in all the sights as if seeing them for the first time. She had only been away for two days, but it felt like an eternity. Garden was her home now, just as much if not more so than Timber. She was dying to see Squall, but she knew she couldn't because it was against tradition to see your fiancée on your wedding day. She thought for a moment wondering what to do instead, when the bell rang signaling that it was eight am. "I know where everybody is right now," she exclaimed and headed for the cafeteria.

Seifer pretended to listen as Zell and Selphie chattered. Something about the wedding most likely, it was hard to tell. He wasn't exactly proficient in the language of sugar high nonsense. He nodded and smiled every once in a while to keep up appearances, but his mind was elsewhere. In a Section A suite, to be exact. He knew that Squall would be all right, physically anyway, he would be quite sore for a few days, but would get over it. What bothered him was the fact that Squall had given up on a fight. He had seen Squall at the edge between life and death, victory and defeat as Cid had once termed it, had even pushed him there a few times. Never had he seen Squall look so utterly defeated, even when he was very near dying at Seifer and the Warden's hands back in the prison, he still kept fighting. What had happened to him in the training center? He had the lionheart and should have destroyed the Rex easily, but instead he had basically thrown in the towel and given up. The ex-knight's eyes widened slightly with the realization that his rival had not only given up on the fight, he had given up on life itself.

His musings were suddenly interrupted. "Seifer, are you okay?" both Selphie and Zell asked him. He saw the worried looks on their faces and tried to reassure them with a smile and told them that he was fine, just a little tired. He had stayed up a little too late training for the SeeD field exam last night, that was all. Selphie quickly accepted it and went back to chattering but Zell wasn't so sure. Something wasn't right, that much he knew, but what it was he didn't know. He thought it might have been because Quistis wasn't there, she was locked in one of the labs working on some project. He quickly decided that that wasn't the problem, even thought Seifer and Quistis had started dating. It wasn't exactly what could be called a great romance or even true love for that matter. Zell saw it for what it was, even if no one else could. Two scarred people are drawn to each other because they are so similar, because they've been hurt deeply and need someone that knows the feeling. And the two people who had caused all of this were getting married today.

It was a great shock when Squall and Rinoa came back to the party that night and announced they were getting married, although not for the reasons everyone else thought. He assumed that their relationship wouldn't last long, they were so ill-suited for each other. He saw something lacking when he saw the two of them together, much like Seifer and Quistis. Things didn't fit. He had decided to put aside his feelings, because he was the best man after all, but it was hard. In love with your best friend's fiancée, how much lamer could you get? He was pondering this, when he saw a raven haired goddess in blue heading their way. Rinoa.

Rinoa entered and looked around for her friends. All of them except Squall and now Irvine since he was on a mission, met here for breakfast every morning. She didn't have to search long as she heard Selphie's voice almost immediately. She bounded over to the table and smiled at the three of them. "Hi guys!" she said as she hugged each of them in turn. Selphie squealed and threw her arms around her roommate's neck, Zell blushed slightly and hugged her back, and Seifer appeared lost in thought, but returned her embrace and flashed her a small smile. She sat down in one of the empty seats. Somebody was missing. She looked around the cafeteria then turned back to the group and asked, "Where's Quistis?"

Both Selphie and Zell shrugged. Seifer lost his dreamy look for a moment and glared at both of them. "I told both of you earlier where she was. Don't tell me you already forgot," he growled. They smiled sheepishly and Selphie answered with a sly look, "I thought I'd let you do it since she's your girlfriend after all."

Seifer rolled his eyes and told Rinoa about the email he had received earlier that morning. That Quistis was in the infirmary lab working on some special project and had been there for hours. "She should still be asleep. But don't just go barging in there. Clear it with Dr. K first. Its most likely for a mission or something otherwise she wouldn't be there so late." As he spoke, he wondered what it was. The only orders like that came from the Commander, but Squall wasn't exactly in the kind of shape to be giving orders. He stopped pondering long enough to tell Rinoa goodbye before she left in search of her friend.

Rinoa scanned the numbers at the top of the many doors in the infirmary. "Ah, there it is," she said. She knocked softly, but did not wait for an answer knowing there would most likely not be one. She entered and tried to close the door quietly. There she was, lying asleep on the cot just as Dr. Kadowaki said she would be. Quisty really should stop working so hard all the time. Its not good for her at all.

Rinoa shook her head and thought about what she had planned on doing when she entered and changed her mind. "I'll let her sleep a little longer," she whispered. At that moment, the glare of the computer screen caught her eye. She wondered what Quistis was working on that had caused her to stay most of the night and the morning in the lab. She hesitated for a moment. "Its none of my business."

She sat down on the floor near the bed with her chin and arms resting on her knees and watched Quistis sleep. She thought about what it was like to sleep without nightmares. She had not had a completely peaceful night since she became a sorceress. They called to her in her dreams and refused to let her rest. Every night, sorceresses from past and future invaded her slumber, calling on her to let them in, to join them. "Little sister," they said in voices that sent chills down her spine, "You belong to us. There is no escaping it. Even your knight can't protect you." To her protests that Squall would protect her, that he promised and he loved her, they laughed at her scornfully and replied, "Silly little sister, how little you know. For one so powerful, you are so naïve. Your love will destroy him. Once he knows, you will be ours."

She always awakened in tears before she could find out what this horrible thing was. She would bury her face in the pillows to hide her sobs from her roommate Selphie, only to awaken in the morning to find them streaked with blood where her tears had fallen.

She felt cold suddenly and shivered although the room temperature was so warm that it was almost uncomfortable. The screen caught her eye and she felt drawn to it, although something inside told her to stay away. She tried to ignore it and think of something more positive like her wedding in just a few hours. Selphie and Quistis were both going to be her maids of honor because she couldn't choose one over the other and risk hurting somebody's feelings. When they had went shopping in Balamb last week, she picked out beautiful baby blue dresses for them to wear. Her friends wouldn't get trapped in ugly bridesmaids gowns. She giggled softly as she thought of Squall's choice for best man. Zell actually blushed when she hugged him. Most likely because Seifer was there. He had never completely forgiven the bullying when they were kids and tried to compensate by acting like a tough guy when the older man was around. Why do men always have to do that? Its silly.

The only thing that dampened her spirits was the fact that her father wasn't going to be there. Right after the end of time compression, it looked like they were going to reconcile, but something happened and Caraway grew distant and started to ignore her altogether. "I guess he can't accept that his daughter's a sorceress," she said sadly. He had brushed her off when she asked him to give her away, saying there was a big conference that he must attend. To add more injury onto what she had already suffered, she learned while in Timber that there was no conference on her wedding day, that there wouldn't be one for another six months. Later that day, she met up with Irvine and poured out the entire story to him. The cowboy dug around in his pockets and found a clean handkerchief to her which she accepted gratefully and offered to walk her down the aisle. Almost everyone she cared about would be involved in the wedding in some form. Even Angelo was in the party, he was going to carry her train. She made a mental note to go visit him later when they went to Balamb to get their hair and nails done. Garden regulations prevented animals from being on campus when their owners were away for more than a day and she couldn't take him on the train, so she left him in the care of Zell's mom.

She laughed as she pictured the normally stern woman speaking baby talk to the dog and spoiling it with treats and constant belly rubs. Just then the computer beeped, signaling that it was done with whatever operation it had been performing. She couldn't contain her curiosity any longer. She glanced over at Quistis to make sure she was still asleep, then stood up and walked over to the terminal. As she read what was on the screen her mouth dropped open. She put up her hands to her face and shrieked, "Oh my Hyne!" She suddenly felt weak and nauseous and swayed unsteadily for a moment then collapsed to the floor.

* * *

Quistis awoke suddenly when she heard somebody yell. She opened her eyes just as Rinoa fell. She got up quickly and went to check on her friend. Just as she bent over, she glanced at the screen. She stared in silent horror as she looked at the results.

* * *

Query: #017642

Category: Paternity

Matching: Loire, Laguna

Search Results (2 of 2)

Leonhart, Squall (100 percent)

Heartilly, Rinoa (100 percent)

* * *

Author's notes and stuff: Once again, I don't own any of this. And the plot finally moves forward... Having no inspiration sucks. I blame it on Squall. Its completely his fault, that's why he's not in this chapter. But he'll most definitely be in the next one, that is, if he cooperates... 


	7. A Perfect Fit

Squall paused uncertainly at the entrance to the small shop. His companion grinned at his discomfort and ushered him in. They were immediately approached by a woman with short spiky black hair. "Welcome to Francine's Bridal & Formal Wear. I'm Francine. Is there anything I can help you two gentlemen with?"

Irvine answered, "Yes, ma'am, we're here to pick up Squall's tuxedo. His wedding's tonight." She smiled and turned her attention to the groom-to-be. "Congratulations. Come, right this way." She turned and in what could almost be called a kind of march, headed towards to the back of the store. She quickly disappeared into the sea of dresses. The two men waded through the many racks of billowing silk and lace gowns. Squall was slightly amazed by all the different shades of white. He always thought white was just... white. Finally they made it out and walked over to where Francine was waiting with a garment bag. "Go try it on," she commanded. "This dressing room is unlocked."

Squall took the bag from her and stepped into the dressing room, pulling the door shut and locking it behind him. About five minutes later, he emerged fully dressed. Francine gasped quietly and muttered something unintelligible in a language that sounded like German to Irvine. Even Irvine had to admit that Squall looked good. The suit was simply cut, but fit the man wearing it perfectly. The cowboy decided to have a little fun and let out a low whistle that was normally reserved for exceptional beauty. He smirked when Squall turned away sheepishly, but not so quickly that Irvine couldn't see the red spread across his pale face.

It was very rare to get a reaction out of the Commander that was more than eye rolling and a muttered whatever. Rin is a good influence on him he thought as Squall disappeared back into the dressing room. Squall hung his suit up carefully and closed the garment bag then proceeded to put his regular clothes back on taking care not to irritate any of the wounds that covered his upper body. He had never known that it could hurt to put on clothes until that morning.

After his mind cleared and the memory of the events of the night before came back to him, he decided to get up and find Seifer to thank him. Every cell in his body protested as he attempted to get up. He finally got up and staggered towards his bathroom. It was there he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. The hollow look in the eyes he barely recognized as his own made him turn away in self-disgust. He quickly examined the various gashes and bruises that covered him, no sign of infection. He walked back into his room and started to get dressed. He was rifling around in his closet for a clean shirt when he heard a knock at the door. Before he could tell his visitor to wait a minute, the door opened and Irvine strode in. The cowboy's smile quickly became a look of concern when he saw his comrade standing there shirtless, looking like he been attacked by a pack of rabid toramas, assuming of course that toramas traveled in packs. "What happened?" he asked.

Squall shrugged and said it was nothing, but the wince as he made the movement gave him away. "That's bullshit Squall. You look like you're about to pass out any moment. What the hell happened?" Squall quickly explained about his encounter with the rex. Irvine sighed and ran his fingers through his long brown hair. "You really should go to the infirmary and have that checked out."

Squall shook his head, "No, I'll be fine. It looks worse than it is." Irvine didn't believe that, but he just shook his head, knowing it was pointless to argue any more. Squall forced the grimace forming on his face into a smile and continued in a mock-stern voice, "So Irvine, what's going on that's so important that you just barge in here?"

"Well, Commander," he said while giving the standard SeeD salute, "the princess shall be arriving soon and I have orders to..."

"Orders, you say? From whom?" Squall asked. "Selphie," Irvine admitted with a smile. "Now, sir, if you'd just let me finish. I have orders to, for the sole purpose of keeping you and your lovely bride-to-be from breaking a most honorable wedding day tradition, kidnap you, sir. By any means necessary she said, as long as you were out of Garden." Squall shook his head at this and stifled a laugh. He finished getting dressed and followed his friend out the door.

Kidnapped on my wedding day. Squall chuckled at the thought as he opened the door of the fitting room. Just then his ears were assaulted by the electronic music coming out of his phone. The ring tone he had chosen had reminded him of winning very difficult battles. It was one of the few that he liked, but it didn't seem appropriate for this cotton candy clothing shop. He listened to the voice on the other end for a moment then suddenly dropped everything he was holding, including the phone. Before Irvine could ask what had happened, he was already out the door heading back towards Garden.

Irvine picked up the phone to see if the other person was still on the line. It was a voice he knew very well. Quistis. He quickly scribbled out a check for the suit and handed it to the shocked owner. The suit was left where it had been dropped. Irvine listened to her speak as he stepped outside looking for Squall, and could not believe what he was hearing. It was impossible he thought, but apparently true. It had been a great shock to Rinoa who still lay unconscious in the infirmary. How must that feel he thought as he opened the door to the Garden owned car, to find out that the one you were planning on marrying and spending the rest of your life with is your half-brother? He turned his attention back to Quistis. "Squall doesn't know yet. It didn't seem like something to say over the phone..."

Irvine paused for a moment before he answered. All hell was about to break loose and there was nothing any of them could do to stop it. "You'll get to tell him soon enough, Quisty. He's on his way there now."

* * *

Notes and stuff: Finally, a new chapter. I haven't written anything in a long time. Squall is still being very uncooperative. And this ended up being shorter than I wanted, but its better than nothing. I'm thinking maybe, no more than 3 more chapters in this one, then I'm going to the second part which is still untitled. Also, be expecting Fixation, a short series of pre-game fics soon. They'll tie into this one. Please r&r, constructive criticism needed. 


	8. Static in Our Heads

"She's so still, every time I come in I swear we've lost her," the nurse said as she measured the girl's pulse rate.

"But her vital signs are always normal, if a bit on the low side," Quistis responded. "It's a good sign at least."

"Yeah, but sometimes I wonder if she'll ever come out of it. It's been more than a month now, you know. Her chances of a full recovery are pretty slim at this point. "

Quistis fixed one of her many patented steely instructor glares upon the nurse. "Don't say things like that around Rinoa. Dr. Kadowaki said we are to keep the atmosphere positive. Just because someone is unconscious doesn't mean they're completely oblivious to things going on around them."

"You're right Quistis, that was unprofessional of me. I apologize," she replied shamefully as she gathered her supplies back on the cart. Quistis finished her examination and the pair exited the room.

Rinoa moved unsteadily through the darkness towards the faint voices. It made no difference, the more she walked, the farther away they became until she could no longer hear them. They were not the voices she was used to hearing in this dark place. The new voices were familiar, comforting...safe. The others were anything but. Voices that surrounded her and invaded her mind. Ever since she had been here (how long had it been?) , she had not had a peaceful moment. Whenever she would close her eyes to the darkness, horrifying images would come. Scenes of brutality and hatred. Destruction on massive levels. And always the laugh. The sadistic evil laugh.

A dissonant hissing suddenly filled her ears. It was a painful sound that caused her to futilely cover her ears. The disembodied voices returned again to taunt her.

"_What a pathetic little girl you are, wanting to mate with your brother...a most unforgivable of abominations..a freak of nature you are..._"

Rinoa opened her mouth in protest, but no sound came out. Memories of her horrible discovery overwhelmed her mind. She wondered if Squall knew yet. It was so hard to get him out of his shell, this would probably cause him to permanently retreat into it. _(Break it)_ How could they even face each other after this? (_Break it_) One thing she was glad for was the fact they had not made love yet. On the off chance that she would even be able to conceive, she had no wish to bring an inbred "freak" into the world.

"Squall won't even want to be in the same room with me once he knows. But he's my knight and bound to be with me. He needs someone that can love him without it being an...abomination to do so. I can't trap him into spending the rest of his life like this, but I can't let him go either. What can I do?

"_Break the connection. The mortal is weak and unworthy of you anyway. He is keeping you back from your true power. He will hate you once he knows. Better to break than to be broken..."_

She stood conflicted for a moment. There was only one option, difficult as it was to make. It was better for Squall to be free than to be bound to her for his entire life. "I'd rather that you move on and forget me than resent me forever. Squall, you are no longer my knight." There was a faint sound of maniacal, victorious laughter, but Rinoa did not hear it. Her entire body was wracked with pain so severe she dropped to her knees. The darkness fell away as if it was a large plate of glass being broken away by a sledgehammer. Her surroundings became a blinding white as the sound of static returned loudly enough to drown out her cries.

Squall stood in his office looking out the window at nothing. He could not believe the downward spiral his life had taken. The only person he had opened his heart to had turned out to be related to him. "Fucking Laguna. Screwed up my life twice in less than a week. Of all the men in the world, why did he have to be my father? Why does he have to be Rinoa's father? Hyne damn it, what is wrong with me that I didn't realize that she was my sister? This just proves that I really am a loser. For years I kept my defenses up, but I let her slip through. Love only bring hurt. I should have known better than to even think I could be happy."

A tear slipped down his cheek into his mouth. He tasted the salt and suddenly remembered that he hadn't eaten anything. He looked over to his desk at his untouched lunch. "Why eat", he thought, I'll just throw it up within a couple of hours anyway." Still, it seemed like something to do. He started to walk over when static filled his ears. A searing pain racked his body. It felt like both his body and soul were being ripped apart. He fought the pain as long as he could, but soon gave in and collapsed.


	9. Shattered Knights

/Seifer/

Do you know what it feels like to have your very soul ripped away from your body? To lose something that has become an innate part of you to the point that the most torturous death would be a welcome relief from the pain of losing it. You are left with a gaping hole inside, one so large that you feel hollow inside. Almost like a tree, dead and empty inside, but still looks healthy and normal outside. Until one day when it can no longer deal with the pain and collapses in on itself.

That is what feels like when a knight loses what has become most precious to him. The one that is a part of him, and is more him than he is. When she chooses to break that connection, and separate herself from him, breaking the sacred bond, it destroys the knight completely. He becomes a shadow of what he was, broken inside and out. There is always concern over the mental state of the sorceress with no knight. That she will inevitably go insane without her knight. They never think to consider what the knight is like without a sorceress.

It is a feeling that no one else could even dream of understanding, even if they cared enough to try. It is only possible if it is experienced firsthand, a fate I would not wish on my worst enemy. It is what happened to me. It is the same thing happening to Squall now. They always said we were just alike and now we truly are.

Fragmented beings. Knights with no one to protect. Shattered souls.


End file.
